Liu Deshan immediately bought hundreds of stones of Fujian sugar goods, and the money and goods were clearly settled. The Zheng family sent several more people on board to ask Liu Deshan and Chen Huamin about their knowledge of the Australians. [No pop-up novel website] Following the instructions of the Australians, Liu Deshan talked a lot except not mentioning the incident of being inspected. He deliberately exaggerated the strength of the Australians and could not help but add fuel to the fire, which made the faces of several members of the Zheng family become more solemn.
The steward of the Zheng family asked again about the origin of Dongshanju. I heard that they were bought from a shipyard in Hong Kong, and everyone became more and more discouraged. Although there is no artillery equipment on the Dongshanju, the ship's tonnage and wide double deck indicate that this ship has great combat potential. Zheng Zhifeng is also a first-class main battleship - several European-style large ships are being imitated on Kinmen Island. Although the size and tonnage are much larger than the Dongshanju, even a layman can tell that the Dongshanju is a ship. Smooth and quick to drive.
The Australians can actually export such large ships as merchant ships, which shows how much their fleet has expanded! Thinking of this, several people couldn't help but feel discouraged.
After loading the sugar goods, the Dongshanju weighed anchor and set sail - Weitou Bay is now a place of disputes, so it would be better to stay less. The Dongshanju went all the way west to Da Yuan Hang.
As a trade port between the Dutch East India Company and Lingao, Damang immediately got rid of its past half-dead state after signing the trade contract between the two parties. Compared with the Zheng Zhilong Group, which changes orders day by day and constantly raises conditions, the Australians have a very good "contractual spirit" and are flawless in the execution of contracts - of course, they have always been strict with others in the execution of contracts. Hans Putmans originally had little confidence in opening up the situation: in his opinion, Chinese businessmen were too cunning and had always been treacherous. It would be difficult to achieve a major breakthrough without using force to protect trade. Unfortunately, the situation along China's coast is so chaotic, and the company's available military force in East Asia is too weak.
After signing a trade agreement with the Australians. The situation in Danguan immediately changed. Australian ships continued to enter Danguan Port, carrying Chinese goods that countless companies had dreamed of - including a large number of increasingly popular Australian goods. Hans Pu Termans's performance was booming, and the company was praising him. Naturally, his personal benefits also rolled in. In particular, Australians are not as obsessed with silver as Chinese merchants, and have an excellent appetite for all kinds of goods. This has greatly alleviated the "silver shortage" situation in the trade with China with the Dutch East India Company. Less than half a year after the signing of the agreement, Danguan transformed from an almost abandoned trading stronghold into a "jewel" of the Dutch East India Company.
Since the opening of Kaohsiung, the Australians' supply cycle has been shrinking - Hans Putmans soon discovered that the Australians had established a transit warehouse in Kaohsiung. A large amount of merchandise has been accumulated. He once thought that if he could seize Kaohsiung through a surprise attack, he would not only be able to obtain rich loot, but also add a bright pearl to the company: Compared with the generals who only have one castle and a few forts, Kaohsiung is more and more powerful. It looks more like a real city.
This arrogant idea disappeared immediately after he witnessed Lingao's fleet stationed in Kaohsiung. After the news of Zheng Zhilong's demise was brought back to the officials by Trodnius, a businessman stationed in Zhangzhou Bay. He immediately began to think about how to keep senior personnel in the company--of course not through force.
Although the Castle of Geranze is still under construction - after all, the company has invested a large amount of money in the castle and cannot give up halfway, and presiding over the construction project is always a risky thing - His Excellency the Governor is very concerned about strengthening the defense of the generals. He is completely uninterested and just does whatever the company instructs him to do. The natives, who originally posed a great threat to senior officials and often "camped out" and "headhunted" outside the city, experienced several conflicts with the Australians and now rarely appeared near senior officials. As a result, the land route from Dajuan to Kaohsiung has become safer, and the Australians even started to build a road between the two places without any care.
At a drinking party where he drank too much Australian rum, he shouted to Captain Heinrich Weidenfeller, the garrison commander of the commander: "You think the commander is still in the company's hands because of your subordinates?" Those four hundred sick guys with matchlocks? No. We're still here purely because of the kindness of the Australians!"
Indeed, judging from the interactions between the two parties, the Australians have no ill intentions towards the wealthy Dutch. And it is full of goodwill: the Dutch can not only go to Kaohsiung to purchase a variety of fresh food to supplement their scarce supplies - they can also buy various recreational products: cigars, alcohol and beverages. If you are willing to pay a lot of money, you can also buy ice cubes to cool down the heat. So much so that Batavia felt that there was no need to transport supplies to the generals. Kaohsiung "can buy everything" except gunpowder and guns. The freed up space can transport more trade goods for trading.
As a result, the Dutch became more and more dependent on Kaohsiung's material supplies. Gradually, the wealthy Dutch wore T-shirts, shirts and trousers made by the Kaohsiung Quilt Factory and sewn with imported Dutch linen, and wore rattan made in Lingao. sandals. Wearing a cool helmet made of rattan, these are more suitable for the climate of Formosa than the cumbersome and stuffy clothes of the Dutch. The Dutch also drink a lot of rum, salt soda and kvass produced by Clinco.
Not only are most of the supplies purchased from Kaohsiung. Even ship repairs go to the ship repair yard in Kaohsiung - there are large dry docks and heavy-duty cranes. Repairing and maintaining a few Dutch round ships is a piece of cake.
As for the high-ranking sailors and soldiers. As long as they abide by the rules, they can enter and exit Kaohsiung's business district for entertainment and entertainment. There is no doubt that Kaohsiung's business district has more choices than the simple business district under the Castle of Relanja. If they get sick, if they want, they can receive treatment from local Chinese doctors. Compared with the smelly German doctors, the medicine and acupuncture treatments given by Chinese doctors in Kaohsiung are more effective.
Even among the workers who were building the castle and fort in Geranje, many were Australian slaves - Hans Putmans could not describe those who were shipped by ship and placed in the huge bamboo shed camp except for using this word. When the Dutch suffered from too few workers and slow progress, the Australians immediately offered to provide labor for subcontracting projects.
Putmans had no choice. It turned out that the Chinese slave workers under the management of these Australians worked hard and were very efficient. With their participation in the construction of the castle, it was said to be improving with each passing day.
Hans Putmans is a shrewd and capable businessman. In this great situation of the "Australian-Dutch Concord", he does not believe that the Australians are "peace-loving". What they did in Weitou Bay fully illustrates their actions in Weitou Bay. When necessary, he will be ruthless, even cruel.
Obviously, the Australians do not touch the big officials because they still need to trade with the company. If one day this trade becomes insignificant to them, they will come to capture the big officials and then occupy the entire Formosa Island.
How can we ensure the company's continued existence in Formosa? Governor Hans Putmans has been thinking about this issue recently. For this reason, he specially sent a group of spies to Kaohsiung to inquire about the situation of the Australians, especially the types and quantities of ships entering and leaving the port and trading goods.
It was in this atmosphere that the Dongshanju sailed into the Taijiang River.
This is not the first time Chen Huamin and Liu Deshan have come to DaYuan, but this time they were slightly surprised: DaYuan is much more prosperous than before. Because the Dutch East India Company's trade volume with the Australians has increased significantly, the number of ships sent here is several times more than in the past. Even the market for senior officials has prospered, and facilities have also been added.
The Castle of Geranje, which had been at a standstill and had never completed the first floor, has risen from the ground. The brick and stone walls are lined with scaffolding, and a tower has already been erected. Several other buildings are also half-completed, and it can be seen that they will be completed in a short time. On the other side of the harbor, to the east of the Taijiang River, the originally small and crude walled city has now become a small but very strong fortress. A new fortress is also being built on the northern island in the harbor. Ships transporting construction materials and workers are constantly flowing in the harbor.
In addition to the Australian trading ships, after the fall of Zheng Zhilong, the trade monopoly from Fujian to Taiwan was completely broken, and many more Ming merchants came to Dayuan to trade. There are many ships of different sizes moored around the pier. Except for a few Dutch ships, most of them are Chinese ships such as Guangzhou Shipyard and Fuzhou Shipyard. Therefore, many new buildings were built on the pier in front of the Castle of Geranze, and rows of new warehouses and yards were built, and mountains of goods waiting to be shipped were piled up.
"I didn't expect the business of senior officials to be so prosperous!" Liu Deshan nodded, "I thought it would be very depressed here."
"What did my cousin say? The business of the senior officials is monopolized by Zheng Zhilong. How can ordinary businessmen dare to trade here? Now that the Zheng family is in ruins, and everyone is not a fool, they will naturally come here to make a fortune."
Compared with the Zheng family's two thousand taels a year in the past, the Class B license issued by the Australians for coastal trade only lasts one hundred taels a year. Many small and medium-sized businessmen who only travel along the coast can afford it and go to Taiwan. There are also more merchant ships, and the goods traded are no longer limited to foreign goods such as porcelain, silk products, and sugar in the past. Trade activity has increased significantly.
The purge of coastal sea owners is not just for the purpose of monopolizing trade - as the Senate, only by promoting commercial circulation can we provide a better foundation for the next step of social reform. Although the Senate can monopolize Taiwan and the Netherlands, Human trade does not do this. (To be continued)
